Q and I took a road trip with a few ideas in mind:
- Find a place to launch a kayak in support of https://texasflyfishers.org/2023/01/13/prison-permit-roundup-2023/
- Run down the beach and see if we can a place to launch kayaks to fish the SW corner of East Matagorda Bay
- Get as close as we could to our marked honey hole by travelling down the beach
- Identify any costs that outsiders, such as us, would not normally know about.
Here is what we learned:
Rawling Bait Camp is closed for some major renovations, so you cannot buy your required beach pass there. The renovations are looking good, from the road, but I have no idea when they will open again.
You can buy your beach pass ($10) from Matagorda Bay Nature Park. We visited there for a few minutes and it is a great place to stop in, even if you already have your beach pass.
Rawlings Cut, (28.626098994838287, -95.97050488400687) the way a lot of us used to get into the western edge of the bay, is no longer assessable. There is a cable strung up across the old kayak launch. The area we used to park is also now off limits.
There is a new(-ish) kayak launch point (East Matagorda Bay Paddlesports Park) in place a bit further north and is easy access. The distance to our fishing hole is a bit of a paddle. From my map spot it looks to be about 4 miles. Too tough to do in February, IMO.
By travelling down the beach we found a large cut through the dunes. This took us into the marsh, but it does open up into the bay. From that parking area to our marked spot is only a shade over 2 miles. With a south wind, in February, it should be an easy paddle.
By going down the beach a lot further, past “Hog Island” we came to another cut through to the north. We travelled about a half mile on this trail, before the terrain became too wet, and soft. The only way I could see getting to the fishing grounds here is to hike the remaining half mile or so to the bay. There is not enough connecting water to get to the bay in a kayak.
